Russell Garland regularly attends worship at St Andrew’s Cathedral in central Sydney. But on Sunday morning he came with special purpose. He and his wife, who hail from the suburb of Newtown, were there to celebrate the Anglican cathedral’s 200 year history.
For Garland, there was a special connection – when Glenn Davies, Archbishop of Sydney, recalled the first Dean of Sydney, William Macquarie Cowper, in his sermon, it was a reminder to Garland of his own family’s history: his great-grandfather was married by Cowper’s son, also named William.
Dean Kanishka Raffel greets guests after the service on Sunday. PICTURE: Christopher Gilbert.
The Garlands were among 570 people who attended the service on Sunday which opened with Pastor Ray Minniecon, Elder of St Andrews Cathedral Gawura School, acknowledging the Creator who gave custodianship of the land to the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and acknowledging in prayer “the painful history between the Aboriginal people and the later settlers of this land”, praying that the Father “may work among us the reconciliation that is the gift of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Others taking part in the service included the New South Wales Governor, Margaret Beazley, in what was her first visit to the cathedral since her appointment, as well as Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney. Politicians of all stripes, two preceding archbishops and the Consul General of New Zealand, Bill Dobbie, were also in attendance.
The cathedral fills before the service on Sunday.PICTURE: Christopher Gilbert.
A brass ensemble with harp and timpani accompanied a purple clad choir of boys and young men from St Andrews Cathedral School to inspire what was a unique worship service. The musicians and choristers filled the vault of the cathedral with music while hymns featuring lyrics dating from the 6th and 17th centuries and anthems based on Psalm 122 and the words of 4th century church fathers plumbed the deep well of classical Christian faith and pointed to the intention of the earliest Sydney Anglicans.
“This is, in fact, the 200th anniversary of Governor Lachlan Macquarie laying the foundation stone for the cathedral in 1819,” explained Kanishka Raffel the Dean of Sydney. “A temporary cathedral functioned in the centre of what is now Town Hall Square until 1868 when the finished building was consecrated.”
Raffel went on to explain to the guests that, from his reading of Ephesians 2:18-20, the real cathedral or “temple of God” is in fact the people of God whose lives are built on Christ as the cornerstone.
The present cathedral was preceded by a temporary cathedral located on what is now Town Square. PICTURE: Christopher Gilbert.
The service proceeded through an otherwise typical evangelical Anglican liturgy punctuated by two baptisms as a man and a woman gave testimony of their decision to follow Jesus and renounce their old way of life. This helped to make plain the message of Archbishop Davies as he preached from Mark 2:1-12 on the paralytic whose friends lowered him down through a roof to encounter Jesus.
“His whole body was renewed in an instant. He was a new man,” said Davies. ”But more than that, he was a forgiven man, his sins had been forgiven. For that to be true is a far greater work than the healing of a paralysed man’s body, and in chapter two of Mark’s Gospel we are already in the trajectory towards Jesus death upon the cross whereby He would save His people from their sins.”
Through prayer, anthems, hymns, confession, creed, baptisms and sermon, all in attendance were encouraged to encounter Jesus Christ and continue the trajectory of the past 200 years.
St Andrew’s Cathedral today. PICTURE: Christopher Gilbert
“God has been very gracious to us,” said Jane Tooher, a Sydneysider speaking of the legacy of the cathedral to her city. “The fact that Christ has been proclaimed here for 200 years is great provision from God.”
Guests spilled out into the square after the service where hundreds lingered as they enjoyed catching up with friends in the spring sunshine.
The Sunday service was the centrepiece of the bicentennial celebrations which began on Saturday evening with a choral concert and ended on Monday with a choral evensong.
